Passionate artist and ex-Geraldton student Hop Dac has some advice for regional creatives

One day, Vietnamese refugee and Geraldton-raised Hop Dac realised he’d had enough of working a job he was only half-heartedly invested in. He quit his public service job to pick up a paint brush and now earns a living as an artist, collecting plaudits along the way, including being shortlisted for the National Emerging Art Prize and the Biblio Art Prize in 2022. The 46-year-old grew up in Geraldton after migrating from Vietnam in the 1980s, graduating from Nagle Catholic College in 1994. He now lives in Geelong with his family. While working in public service as a communications and marketing officer, Dac said he was making his way as an artist in a “hand-fisted way”, until he realised he wasn’t interested in his day job and began getting his art business off the ground. An artist at heart from the beginning, Dac hadn’t built up the confidence to take his art to the next level and said communications and his stint working for a literary journal gave him the skills to begin his success as an artist. “I thought ‘I could give this a real go now’, before then I’d tried to be an artist but didn’t really know the business side of things; how to engage with people, how to promote myself and how to approach galleries,” Dac said. Dac’s artwork stems from his experience migrating to Australia as a refugee and growing up in a regional town as an Asian Australian. Frustration, identity, culture assimilation and cultural acceptance are all topics he says he puts to paint. “COVID really brought out a lot of trauma that I’d been repressing, that comes from being a refugee, growing up in Geraldton and the war trauma we experienced,” he said. “Sometimes I paint things because it’s beautiful or it’s a still life that I think will bring joy, I’m not limiting myself to things about identity or culture. “A lot of the things I do come from that world of the impressionist where there’s joy in looking at something.” Dac said one of his works, titled An Invasive Species, was specifically about migration to Australia, set in one of the fibro homes where he grew up in Geraldton. There were plenty of positive influences growing up, including his high school art teacher and current Steiner School principal Mike Friday. “When you’re someone that comes from another culture, especially from a refugee background or non-English speaking, sometimes your parents can’t help you or they’re limited in the way that they can introduce you or assimilate you to the culture,” Dac said. “So teachers, who you deal with every day going to school, give you a sense of normality and can give the feedback that you’re just a normal kid going to school.” Still dealing with the trauma today, Dac said he grew up dealing with racism and bullying in high school. He said he was called names on the street, spat on and was confronted in the school hallway. “I’m sure there’s a lot more assimilation now and probably a bit more acceptance of what Vietnamese or Asian culture brings to Geraldton,” he said. Always ask for help and never give up on your dream were two things he could advise regional creatives. “I just assumed I knew everything, just as a lot of young people do. But assume that you don’t know everything, be curious and interested and want to know more about how things work,” Dac said. “You can connect with the writers or the artists that have progressed a certain way in their work and I’m sure someone would be perfectly happy to give advice.” To view more artwork by Dac, visit www.instagram.com/hop.dac.art